1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to selection and access of resources in a computer network.
2. Description of Related Art
As modern companies' reliance on computers has increased, the demands placed on computers and computer networks have also increased. Many companies desire to run massive computational applications for which the computing power or storage capability of a single machine would be insufficient. For example, financial services companies often run risk and portfolio analysis applications in which enormous data sets are analyzed. Similar problems arise in numerous other fields, including scientific research, manufacturing, computer graphics, and energy. For many companies, it is cost-prohibitive to purchase and maintain a sufficient amount of processing power and storage to solve these problems.
Grid computing, sometimes referred to as utility computing, provides a solution to these problems by providing computer resources and infrastructure management as required by the customer. When a customer submits a job to the utility computing network for execution, the service provider distributes computational load throughout the Grid network. Existing systems, however, fail to optimally distribute the load to maximize the use of resources, while minimizing associated costs.
Accordingly, there is a need for a Grid resource server access strategy that selects the most suitable Grid resources, while also optimizing the usage of network resources. More particularly, there is a need for an access strategy that considers resources related to computation, storage, visualization, acquisition, and web applications. Additionally, there is a need for a Grid resource server access strategy that is state-aware, such that it maintains network and computation performance even in the event of resource shortages.
The foregoing objects and advantages of the invention are illustrative of those that can be achieved by the various exemplary embodiments and are not intended to be exhaustive or limiting of the possible advantages which can be realized. Thus, these and other objects and advantages of the various exemplary embodiments will be apparent from the description herein or can be learned from practicing the various exemplary embodiments, both as embodied herein or as modified in view of any variation which may be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the present invention resides in the novel methods, arrangements, combinations, and improvements herein shown and described in various exemplary embodiments.